First-time buyer affordability gap narrows – for some
Buying a house in some parts of the UK has come back within reach after some surprising areas bucked the national trend of increasing unaffordability.
The price of the average first-time buyer’s home has risen by 22% to £214,638 since 2016, far outpacing the average first-time buyer’s salary, which has increased by 13% to £38,251.
But research by Nationwide shows that properties in a quarter of local authorities have defied the odds to become more affordable than they were five years ago.
Buying a house in some parts of the UK has come back within reach after some surprising areas bucked the national trend of increasing unaffordability.
The price of the average first-time buyer’s home has risen by 22% to £214,638 since 2016, far outpacing the average first-time buyer’s salary, which has increased by 13% to £38,251.
But research by Nationwide shows that properties in a quarter of local authorities have defied the odds to become more affordable than they were five years ago.
This is either because prices have fallen, as in Westminster and Aberdeen, or wages have risen, as in Reading and Cambridge.
In Cambridge, the average first-time buyer’s wage has shot up by more than 25% to £45,000, thanks to the boom in life sciences and tech jobs. Properties prices in the city have risen by just 7%, bringing prices down from 10.3 times salary to 8.8 times.
In Aberdeen, the average wage has risen by 5.7% to £35,417, while the average house price has dropped by 55% from £268,132 to £120,859 as the oil price slumped and more homes hit the market.
Of the 20 least affordable areas for first-time buyers, only three are not in London: Oxford, Hertsmere and Three Rivers in Hertfordshire.
Of the top 20 most affordable places all but eight were in Scotland. At the top was East Ayrshire, where first-time buyer homes cost £83,255 on average.
The Times (£)
